Last year was my first year at BM and I went all out (rented an RV) [and
consequently also blew my budget].

This year I plan to use a tent. I noticed last year some folks used spiral
tent stakes (they held better in the playa dirt [can it be considered
dirt??] than straight tent stakes).

However, I have looked EVERYWHERE for spiral tent stakes. Cannot seem to find them.

I thought I'd reach out the group to see if anyone had any
thoughts/suggestions (among the many things I've already done... I've
looked on ebay and have their search engine emailing me about "spiral
stakes", "tent stakes" etc and have gone to Eastern Mountain Sports and the Coleman outlet stores and countless "google" searches)

I used 1/4" rebar, bent into a "J" shape. Mistake. They held, but did not sink into the playa, without bending. I used a 40 oz. sledge to pound them in, and it was like trying to hit a mongoose.
This year, I will use 1/2 rebar, and take a real sledge, and an 18 lb. breaker bar for extraction, or the best thing: bring concrete form stakes (24"...lumber store) a real sledge and a stake puller, and a bunch of those orange stake hats you see on rebar at a construction site. (for the construction stakes)

I have driven scores of form stakes, into clay, dirt, near-rock, etc. The playa 12" down is about the hardest hard pan I have ever hit. The only thing harder is rock. The first 12" of the playa will not hold shit, so you really need to get into that hard shit. I think concrete form stakes are the ticket, and the investment in a sledge and puller will seem very small out there.
CDF

Rebar is a waste of time and far too dangerous.
They make the spiral in long versions.
I think it's overkill though.
I recommend the military style 3 or 4 sided angle iron stakes with hooks on the end.
You use one stake to pull the hook on the others and they pop right out.
They go from steel galvanized to titanium.

They grip and do less surface damage.
They are available up to 18 inches.
They still need to be flagged if you don't sink them.
Railroad tie stakes work well sometimes too and can be sunk clear.
Great around a doorway.

"Everything is more wonderful when you do it with a car, don't you think?"
-girl by the fire, watching a tree moved by car bumper in the bonfire

It would be a shame if I had to resort to self-deception to preserve my faith in objective reality.

I use 1/2" x 24" lengths of rebar, the top 6-8 inches are bent into a full loop. They have yet to fail me - even holding down stuff proven to sail in the wind (like pop-up shade structures). The loops make good tie down points, and leave no stick to stick one through the shin or foot. Sure, you can scrape yourself on one or trip on it, but you're not gonna get a puncture wound from one of them... And as a side goodie, the "hook" from a high lift jack fits the loop, making pulling them a snap.

They drive easy, but there is a trick - spend the 5 minutes per on a grinding wheel ($100 at Sears Sloebuck, Cheaper at Horror Freight for the grinder, a few bucks for a coarse wheel) and sharpen each with a pencil point on the end. Will drive into the playa like buttah. I have a 2.5# engineers hammer and a 4# handheld sledge if it gets tough. I also have a 10# "Monday", but have yet to use it for that.

I gave the rebar to my campmate for his two pop up's..I'm going with 12 inch three sided plastic and a pastic hammer..Cut my luging weight down by 40 pounds.. I run the test last year and they worked fine..Less camp more fun time.

Same with the hand tool bag..Damn thing was easy 40lb.. Replaced that with a few ajustable wrenches..

Then the big gas cans..When your tired and old or girlie, Those five gallon can are mean to deal with..Replace then with 2 1/2 gallon cans..That way you can distribute your over all load.. That gets me 2 more miles to the gallon..We will see if mileage increases by cutting weight on the 07 run to the playa..Personaly I'm working on shedding 20-25 pounds..At least getting under 200 pounds..

Most food will be from dry stock this year..This means a smaller cooler and no caned stuff..Less camp more time for fun.....

I told the guy I was going to burning man, and he got me about 50 v-shaped rebar pieces with legs about 1' long. He said they were a common scrap shape, so he just gave me them free. I knew I really needed them to be a U shape, so I tried to hammering them into U shapes with a big hammer. It didn't take long to figure out that would not bend these. Even a five-pound hammer just bounced off, and it was really dangerous too.

I then realized that the right sized steel pipes about 4' long could easily fit two of them at a time in the ends. I used those pipes to get the leverage needed to bend TWO of them at the same time using my body weight! It was a little tiring, but after about 20 minutes, all 50 of them were bend to perfect U shapes!

The rebar Us were used last year to hold down all our tents and several other large structures. You just hammer them in hitting the top of the U. I could pull on those with AT LEAST 100 pounds of force and they would not dislodge, and not one even budged the entire time we were out there. Best of all, there was no problem with people tripping over them because we hammered them in all the way flush with the dirt. When it came time to get them out, I used a Stanley 36" wrecking bar that I picked up back at home depot for $10. They popped out very easily.

So, I got all my stuff hammered down for about $10 for the wrecking bar and a little elbow grease with a couple steel pipes to bend the rebar a little more.

SAI! They make the best tent stakes ever...guarenteed. I was camping on a beach and used sai in loose beach sand and it kept my tent anchored(mostly) during heavy wind! Most martial arts places should have them or at least know how to order them for you. [size=24][/size]

The best design I have seen so far, short of the spiral type, is the military style with four angled sides and a hook at the top.
The angles grip well on the playa for the size and once broken loose, come out easily.
You use the angles on the hook to pull the stakes out.
All you need is one out.
There are variations with three sides and materials such as aluminum or titanium.
Maybe someone knows some place that has them in a modern material like boron/aluminum alloy.
I just found I posted this earlier, but there is more detail here.
The removal trick works great.

"Everything is more wonderful when you do it with a car, don't you think?"

-girl by the fire, watching a tree moved by car bumper in the bonfire

It would be a shame if I had to resort to self-deception to preserve my faith in objective reality.

I tried those heavy duty dog line ancors, spiral, about 3" diameter, about 15" long, and they would only break up the playa,,,no grip at all.

I totally agree with the above post about putting a candy-cane end on rebar. Just get two 3/4 pipe pieces and you can make a perfect 6" bend every time. Pound 'em all the way in, dig out a little for rope, and for removal, just start with a crowbar.

If you have a cut off saw, get a metal cutting blade and buy long lengths of rebar. Sometimes the lengths that come precut are either too short (12") or too long (36")

Candy cane end? Are you serious? I have some I am throwing away. You can't hammer a candy cane end into the playa. Where are you going to hit it? Listen I got some for free, and I am throwing them out. I live in Santa Clara, so if you want them let me know. They are totally worthless in that shape, though, I am warning you. You need rebar in a U shape with about 1' ends. If you live in the bay area, go to the top of this thread and have the guys I gave the address for make them for you. They charge about 75 cents a piece for them. If they have them as scrap, and some days they do, they are free there.

No dont bend the rebar into a candy cane. cant drive it for beans. Rebar works great when it done right. And its way cheap or free. I weld a washer and a ring to mine. Can either loop under the washer or clip to the ring. Ill be doing some workshops throughout the year. If anyone wants to make there own. This year mine were like 18" long and not one came loose in the wind, easy to remove by using a loose one or a screwdriver in the ring and pulling in the direction it was driven

well, i certainly am appreciative for all the NO CANDY CANE advice, but i have to tell you all... we ended up using the candy canes and it would incredibly well. we were camped waaaay out in the walk-in area, so maybe our playa out there was different than in the city or something, but we used the candy cane ends as hooks to hold down pvc with our tarp attached and our structure didn't budge a fucking inch thru thursday and friday's dust storms. the candy canes were easily yoinked out on monday with a crowbar.....

Long story fairly short... I mentioned to one of my vendors who does some fabrication work that I needed some heavy duty stakes made and he asked if I was going to Burning Man out of the blue. Turns out he has been going to a July event on the playa for years. He said he had just the ticket and made me some "playa tested" stakes from 1/2" steel round stock with a big 1" or so nut welded to the top. He ground the other ends to points and made me a bunch of 2' and 3' stakes. They pounded in easily and when it came time to remove, a 3' pry bar took them out quite nicely. And they did not budge during the storms. If I knew how to weld and do steel work I could have made them myself but he only charged me for materials so it worked out fine.